Motivating Young Learners of English as a

Foreign Language

“To motivate someone is to make him/her want to achieve something”

All teachers know that some children sometimes require little motivation to learn – they seem to have
buckets of it themselves. However, others seem only to have buckets with holes in, some or all of the
time! Here are some of the factors that affect young learners’ motivation. Perhaps you can add more
factors to each list:

Motivating Factors From Outside the Classroom:

- Parents’, other family members’ and peers’ attitudes towards English, learning English and
native speakers of English
- Student’s previous experiences of learning English
- Attitudes towards English language exams
- The student’s home life
- What the student did before attending the English lesson
- What the student will do after attending the English lesson
- How the student is feeling physically and emotionally before the lesson, e.g. is s/he well /
tired / happy / upset by friends / hungry / thirsty?
-

Motivating Factors From Inside the Classroom:

- The teacher’s attitude and expectations

- The classroom itself: displays, furniture, space, temperature, noise, etc
- The tasks / materials
-

Although teachers have little control over the factors which originate outside the classroom, we can at
least try to be aware of them and help the students to overcome any negative factors and benefit from
the positive ones. For example, if the student is tired and thirsty, allow him/her to drink water and sit
quietly for a while. If there has been a playground argument, show the students that you care about
them by finding out what happened and advising them on how to make things better. On the positive
side, if a student is obviously happy, again show an interest by asking why and talking about how good
it is to feel happy. If students seem very energetic, play a physical game to make good use of that
energy.

Teachers have more control over the motivational factors inside the classroom. Let’s look at the
teacher’s attitude and expectations, the classroom itself and the tasks / materials used.
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

The Teacher’s Attitude and Expectations

Fill the gaps with the correct words from the box below.

Children can sense how their teacher feels and what his/her expectations are for the
students – and they will act 1._____________. If you are calm, consistent, firm,
friendly, 2.____________, motivated, show concern for individuals and have
3.____________ high expectations for all the children’s 4.____________ and
achievements, your students will feel secure and motivated to succeed. If you do
not 5.____________ these attitudes and expectations, your students could feel
insecure and de-motivated.

accordingly behaviour convey equally fair

The Classroom Itself

Rewrite the first three sentences, spelling each word correctly.

Whn yo wlk nto a room, yr mood cn chng bcs of the tmosphr. The sme s tre fr a clssrm.
Think bt yr clssrm nd hw y cn ptimize th tmsphr. Is it comfortable (too hot / cold /
noisy)? Is the furniture comfortable (enough space for the children to sit without
disturbing each other and see you without turning their necks) and functional (does the
layout suit the activities you have planned)? Is it appropriately decorated (are there
displays of the children’s work and/or age appropriate pictures/posters)?

The Tasks / Materials

Rewrite the following paragraph, using correct spacing, capital letters and punctuation.

beforelookingatthetasksandmaterialsinmoredetailletsthinkaboutyounglearnersgeneral
needsandcharacteristicsifwecansatisfythoseneedsstudentswillbemorenaturallymotivated
tolearn
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

ANSWERS

The Teacher’s Attitude and Expectations

Children can sense how their teacher feels and what his/her
expectations are for the students – and they will act
1.accordingly. If you are calm, consistent, firm, friendly, 2.fair,
motivated, show concern for individuals and have 3.equally high
expectations for all the children’s 4.behaviour and
achievements, your students will feel secure and motivated to
succeed. If you do not 5.convey these attitudes and expectations,
your students could feel insecure and de-motivated.

The Classroom Itself

When you walk into a room, your mood can change because
of the atmosphere. The same is true for a classroom. Think
about your classroom and how you can optimize the
atmosphere. Is it comfortable (too hot / cold / noisy)? Is the
furniture comfortable (enough space for the children to sit
without disturbing each other and see you without turning their
necks) and functional (does the layout suit the activities you
have planned)? Is it appropriately decorated (are there
displays of the children’s work and/or age appropriate
pictures/posters)?

The Tasks / Materials

Before looking at the tasks and materials in more detail, let’s

think about young learners’ general needs and characteristics.
If we can satisfy those needs, students will be more naturally
motivated to learn.
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

Needs and Characteristics of the Young Learner

 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

Children need: So, lesson includes:

(MoMo Monsters Mini Lesson)

to learn by doing – they learn better if they Body writing, Tic Tac Toe, Chant,
USE the language to complete relevant
tasks Drawing

relevant topics – topics should be age- Monsters – appropriate for 6 – 9

appropriate (not necessarily things that
interest the teacher) year-olds

relevant tasks – they will be more motivated Game, chant, drawing

by age-appropriate, meaningful tasks

confidence – they may not like to do new

things alone, and may become de-
Body writing together, Tic tac toe in
motivated if tasks are too difficult groups, choral chant

challenge – they will not be motivated by tasks Tic tac toe required memory
that are too easy

to be kept busy – they have shorter attention Four different activities

spans than adults

physical activity (but not all the time) – their Body writing, mime in chant
bodies are growing and they cannot sit
still for long periods of time

to use different learning styles – they will Body writing, pictures in tic tac toe,
sometimes learn better through visuals /
audio / mime / art and craft / drama, etc mime in chant, drawing for
gapfill
to have a clear structure about how they Clear, concise, staged instructions
should behave and what they should do.
They also need a consistent role model
(the teacher)

variety – “the spice of life”!

Four different activities
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

Momo Monster Chant

What do Momo Monsters eat?

Big green frogs with smelly feet
Smelly feet?
Yes, SMELLY feet
That’s what MoMo monsters eat!

What do Momo Monsters

drink?
Green coca-cola and purple ink
Purple ink?
Yes, PURPLE ink
That’s what MoMo monsters
drink
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

What do Momo Monsters do?

Scream and shout and hiss and
boo
Hiss and Boo?
Yes, HISS and BOO
That’s what MoMo monsters
do!

Where do Momo Monsters

sleep?
On the floor in one big heap
One big heap?
Yes, ONE big heap
That’s where Momo monsters
sleep!
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

What do Momo Monsters wear?

NOTHING!!!
 Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language

Momo Monster Chant

Fill in the gaps, then draw a picture for each verse.

1. _________________?
Big green frogs with smelly feet
Smelly feet?
Yes, SMELLY feet
That’s what MoMo monsters eat!

2. _________________?
Green coca-cola and purple ink
Purple ink?
Yes, PURPLE ink
That’s what MoMo monsters drink!

3. _________________?
Scream and shout and hiss and boo
Hiss and Boo?
Yes, HISS and BOO
That’s what MoMo monsters do!

4. _________________?
On the floor in one big heap
One big heap?
Yes, ONE big heap
That’s where Momo monsters sleep!

5. _________________?
NOTHING!!!
Motivating Young Learners of English as a
Foreign Language